Automatic ore-roasting furnace.



No. 864,330. PATENTED AUG. 27, 1907.

- w. P. OESTERLE.

AUTOMATIC ORE ROASTING FURNAGE.

' APPLICATION rmsn 001:.16. 1905.

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A TTOHNE Y MM BY Andrew HNeuveMhu-Q PATBNTED 'AUG. 27, 1907' W. F. OESTERLEY AUTOMATIC ORB ROASTING FURNACE.

APPLIOATIOH FILED 00'1.16, 1905.

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WITNESSES.

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AUTOMATIC ORE-BOASTING FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 27, 1907.

Application filed October 16,1905- Serial No. 282,970.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that, 1, WILLIAM F. OESTERLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Marion, in the county of Grant and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Ore-Roasting Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ore roasting furnaces and has for its object the production of a novel ore roasting furnace which is entirely automatic in operation and the construction of which is simple and very inexpensive.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side View of my automatic ore roasting furnace, showing the furnace proper in section. Fig. 2 is a top view of the mechanism for operating the rakes automatically. Fig. 3 is a side view of the rake with its flap. Fig. 4 is an enlarged. top view of the air-locks. Fig. 5 is a sectional View of the airlocks along a line A B of Fig. 4.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The hopper 1 which contains the ore is placed at the upper right hand corner of the furnace. Under the hopper 1 is a slide 2 which has a slot 4 and is reciprocated by means of a rod 3 fastened thereto and having collars 32 and 33 which engage the upright 31 of the car 34 giving the slide the proper amount of motion. The slot 4 in slide 2 moves over a slot 5 in the upper chamber 6 of the furnace through which the charge of ore from slot 4 of the slide 2 enters the furnace. 6--89 10-11 and 12 are the ore roasting chambers which communicate with the fire-place 14 and with each other by means of the openings 13-22 2120-1918 and finally with the smoke-flue or stack 7, at the end of the upper chamber 6. In these ore roasting chambers are the rake handles and rakes 414243 l445 and 46, which rake handles are fastened to the upright 21 of the car 34. The rakes consist of a cross-bar 68 (see Fig. 3) which is fastened to the handle, the teeth 69 and a flap or scrapping bar 72, which is pivotally connected to the crossbar 68 by means of link 71 and pin 70. These rakes are so arranged in the chambers that the rake in chamber 6 has the flap on the left hand side as shown in,

Fig. 3, so that the ore is moved from the feed slot 5 to the opening 18 in the fioor of chamber 6. In the next chamber 8 the flap is on the opposite or right hand side of the rakes so that it moves the ore from the left to the right, .and so on the flaps being alternately on one side and then on the other from the top going downwards, which keeps the ore raked and works it from the feed slot 5 to the ore delivery 23 where it is received by a suitable car 17 in tunnel 16 under the furnace, or several of these furnaces may have their ore deliveries connectedby means of a conveyer which would bring the ore from all the furnaces to the car 17. 15 is the ashpit of the fire-place 14. 2425262728 and 29 are air-locks which prevent the cold air from entering the furnace through the end doors 76 when the rakes are pulled out to allow them to cool. These air-locks consist of a closed chamber in front of each roasting floor into which the rakes pass when they come out of the furnace. These chambers are constructed by using steel beams for the frame work and covering these by means of sheet iron or steel plates so as to form the individual chambers. The rake rods enter these chambers through an aperture in the front of each chamber, the rake being fastened to the rod before the front plates of the chambers are fastened to the steel frame work. To get the rake from the'air-lock to the roasting chamber it must push up the swingingdoor 76 which has a slot 77 which permits the door to fall into the vertical posi tion shown, without interfering with the rake rod. They effect a considerable saving of fuel. 30 is a roller used under each of the rake handles to support it.

The car 34, on which is an upright 31 to which are fastened the rake rods, runs over a track 36 in front of the furnace by means of the wheels 35. To the bottom of the car 34 is fastened a rack 37 which meshes with a pinion 38 which is on a shaft 48 which in turn is mounted in suitable bearings fastened to the track. On the shaft 48 is also a pulley 39 which is connected with pulley 49 of the automatic driving and timing mechanism by means of the belt 40. Pulley 49 is rigidly mounted on a shaft 51 which is suitably mounted in bearings on the frame 61. On shaft 51 are loosely mounted worm-wheels 50 and 65 each having a clutch as shown on the sides toward each other. Between these worm-wheel clutches on the shaft 51 is mounted a double ended clutch 68 which is free to slide along said shaft but must rotate with it, as it is fastened by means of a spline, or the shaft 51 may have a square place for this clutch 68. It will be seen that the teeth on the clutches are so arranged that the shaft 51 can be driven in either direction simply by engaging the teeth on either worm-wheel. Worm-wheels 50 and 65 are driven by means of worms 62 and 66 which are suitably mounted on shafts 63 and 73 on whose outer ends are the belt pulleys 64 and 67 which are driven from the lineshaft 75 as shown, one with an open and the other with a crossed belt. The movements of clutch 68 are controlled by a fork ended lever 52 which has pins 54 in the forked end which loosely fit in a groove on clutch 68. The other end of lever 52 is pivoted to the frame 61. Near the middle of its length on the lever 52 is suitably fastened a roll which fits the groove 74 in the timing cam 55 which is mounted on a shaft 56 which rotates in suitable bearings on frame 61 and is driven by means of a worm-whee1 57, the worm 58 which engages the worm-wheel 57, and which is mounted on a shaft 59 which rotates in suitable bearings in frame 61 and has a pulley on its end which is driven from lineshaft 75 by means of a belt. Cam 55 is the timing cam which throws the clutch 68 into either clutch 50, when the car 34 will move to the right pushing the rakes into the furnace, or the clutch 65 when the car is moved in the opposite direction taking the rakes out of the furnace, or between these clutches 50 and 65 when the car will remain stationary. The motions of the car used in my automatic furnace are generally so timed that pushing in and taking out the rakes each requires about one minute after which the car and the rakes remain out some five or ten minutes.

It is evident from the above description that my inrnace is entirely automatic. The ore is raked at fixed periods without the necessity of manipulating any hand levers or valves, so that one man can take care of from four to six of these furnaces. Also it will be seen that while I have shown the novel and cheap construction by the use of flange tiles for the roasting floors, I can use any of the arch constructions commonly employed for such purposes in other furnaces. I do not wish to limit myself to the mechanism shown in connection with my rake timing and reversing device, but have merely shown one form of same with a view that it be taken in a sense diagrammatic of the constructions that can be used.

I claim:

1. In an automatic ore roasting furnace, a series of ore roasting floors, each with an airlock, with a series of rakes, one in each floor, said rakes each having a flap pivotally connected to the cross baiof same which flaps are alternately on either side of the rake teeth so as to keep the ore moving towards the delivery with means for moving said rakes, said means comprising a car which has an automatic intermittent reciprocating motion.

2. In an automatic ore roasting furnace, the combination of a series of ore roasting floors each with an airlock, with a series of rakes one on each door, said rakes each having a flap pivotally connected to the cross bar of same which flaps are alternately on either side of the rake teeth, with means for moving said rakes comprising a car which has an automatic intermittent reciprocating motion, with a feed hopper under which moves a slide having a rectangular slot and which slide is automatically recip rocated by means of said car.

3. In an automatic ore roasting furnace, the combination of a series of ore roasting floors each with an airlock, with a series of rakes one on each floor; said rakes each having a flap'pivotally connected to its cross bar; with a feed hopper under which moves a slide having a rectangular slot which together with the rakes is reciprocated by means of a car having an automatic intermittent motion, with means for giving the said car the automatic intermittent motion.

4. In an automatic ore roasting furnace, the combination of a series of ore roasting floors each with an air lock, with a series of rakes one on each floor, said rakes each having a flap pivotally connected to its cross bar; with a feed hopper under which moves a slide having a rectangular slot, which together with the rakes is moved by a car having an automatic intermittent reciprocating motion with means for giving said car the automatic intermittent reciprocating motion, comprising a rack and pinion associated with a timing device consisting of a cam suitably mounted on a shaft with a worm-wheel which cam actuates a lever which moves a sliding clutch on a shaft on which rotate two worm-wheels in opposite directions and which have teeth formed on their inner faces to engage the teeth of the sliding clutch, the whole mechanism being so timed that the car moves in, then immediately out and then remains at rest for a given period, substantially as shown and described.

WILLIAM F. OESTERLE.

Witnesses:

WEBSTER WoRLnr,

Law A. 'loDD. 

